Mamiya M 645 - I Love My Mamiya!

CineStill and Washi A12, two completely different type of films in a truly great camera.

I've perhaps mentioned that I've started studying photography fine arts in open university and also I think I promised to post more about it some day. Well, that day isn't now because I have more important things to tell you.

I got a new camera!

Well, actually several new cameras since my last camera blog post but this one is a jewel. This is a CAMERA!

Mamiya M 645.

One of my class mates was moving and needed to declutter and asked me if I was interested in this camera. He said that it has few flaws but mostly works fine. He said that he would like to sell it to someone who actually uses it and after listening my interests (old cameras) in the first class when everyone had to tell everyone something about themselves, he decided that I could be worthy of this camera. I had zero experience of this kind of camera and am also a noob in everything related to proper cameras but I'm not that dumb that I would have turned this opportunity down when he said that he could sell it to me for my max price (my max price then was 30€ and to my amazement, still is) and I was thinking that he must be joking.

But he wasn't and now I own a Mamiya M645.

I know.

Not a shitty camera.

30€.

Daaaaaaaaaarn.

This is one of it's flaws. The silver coating inside the prism viewfinder is damaged and removing the glass is not a simple thing. If it's even possible to remove it. But it doesn't affect the picture in any way and you can always remove the viewfinder so to me it's a minor nuisance.

After using the camera over and over again without film, applying a tiny amount of gun oil (or was it lock oil) to the tiny gearwheel that moves the frame counter and should bounce back to S when the film is taken out I realized that there only was that one viewfinder flaw because I either fixed the other flaws or my shear presence, my aura, my wonderful persona fixed everything else by just holding the camera.

Not cocky at all.

I bought plenty of different films when my film dealer had film on sale about half a year ago and this film, CineStill 50D had been waiting for a better camera in the fridge. And now it was finally time to use it.

So let's see the results!

As usual I've done nothing to the photos. Few of them might be better if post-processed but as I want to show you what kind of results does this camera and this film give in different conditions, I've left them as they are and I'll show you the photos with all of mine and the cameras flaws in the pictures.

Slightly too light but otherwise I do have to congratulate myself. What a cool shot!

I've tweaked the cover images a bit so the green color is even more delicious on that version.

More green! I swear I do not know the lady walking there and I did not ask her to walk down the path and I certainly had nothing to do with what she was wearing. Green! I did try to focus on her but as she was quite fast I just gave up and turned the focus ring to infinity. It must be the Nordic walking sticks. She really was a vigorous walker.

Finland co-hosted the international ice hockey world championship this year with Latvia and as last year, there were screens everywhere around the town. You simply couldn't miss hearing something about hockey even if you tried not to pay attention to the games.

A great opportunity to photograph people though. People who do not run away when they see me with my camera.

These were the best photos of all the 15 frames that you can take with a 120 size film.

Let's move on!

Since Mamiya M 645 has it's own frame counter and there actually is no red peek window to see the numbers in the film backing paper I simply had to try a 135mm film. There was just couple things that had to be solved if I want to take more photos than just 15 as the 135mm film is longer than the 120 film.

I have no idea what you call that thing where you put the film rolls or spools in, perhaps a film holder? I'm calling it a sledge. Yes. A sledge for the film spools. (Actually it's called a roll film insert but as it sounds really stupid translated in Finnish, I wanted to use a better, shorter word for it and I think the word sledge is so fitting that I'll use it in English too.)

A roll film insert my ass. It's a sledge!

Anyway, if I had a 220 sledge that is meant for a 220 film which isn't made anymore but is almost the same as 120 film but without the backing paper and twice as long so you can take 30 photos, which is the max number the camera counter has, I wouldn't have to tweak the film holder, aka the 120 sledge at all. But as I don't have one and I wasn't prepared to spend 50€ on one from Kamerastore, I searched the internet for a photo that has both sledges side by side. I found the difference and I drew the missing part to a paper, measured it, 3D printed it, sanded it a bit, searched two tiny screws and screwed the tiny thing to it's place.

I couldn't find any info if there are any other differences with the 120 and 220 sledges, like if the 220 is slightly thicker/taller as there's no backing paper in 220 or 135mm film so without the paper the focus might be slightly soft in 120 sledge. I could have taped a backing paper to the bottom but eventually decided not to care about it and just try things first.

So there's the tiny 3D printed triangle, two screws, the 120 sledge in it's place and the numbers continuing after number 15. I also had adapters for the 135mm film that were printed some time ago and were just waiting for a camera that has a counter in it. I learned the hard way that I'm never ever going to respool a 135mm film in to a 127 spool with backing paper. Same goes with any size backing paper and 135mm film.

My brain says this is the way.

This must be the way. This is the only way I say. Am I doing it correct now?

This is the way.

As usual I've done nothing to the photos. Few of them might be better if post-processed but as I want to show you what kind of results does this camera and this film give in different conditions, I've left them as they are and I'll show you the photos with all of mine and the cameras flaws in the pictures.

Ha!

The blurriness is not because there's no backing paper. It's because of me. My fault. But I kinda like this photo this way. The focus is somewhere else than where I wanted it to be (in the coffee cup handle) but that's okay.

See the letter and the number on the left photo on the right top corner? C6? So something did go wrong after all, although I was sure that that was the way the film rolled. I made sure, my brain made sure and I double checked and my brain triple checked but obviously I managed to put the film the wrong way. Although I had a 135 film camera where I first made sure which side of the film is supposed to be exposed. Fortunately it doesn't matter that much in black and white film but if I ever use a color 135mm film, I better be extra careful. Or better yet, I won't use one in this camera.

I double checked the numbers from a frame that has a car and the licence plate in the photo. Yep. The film numbers are the other way.

I was photographing and a fellow photographer went by me with a scooter but decided to come back to me because he noticed my Mamiya which I was carrying in my hand. We exchanged few words (I wasn't prepared to talk at all, I mean, what kind of people are those who can shift their concentration from seeing things through the viewfinder to fluently talking about cameras or anything? I'm not!) and he let me take couple photos of him.

Darn! What did I just write? Did I call myself a photographer? My mistake. I'm not a photographer. I'm a carrier of a camera and an almost moment capturer that can make any interesting thing a dull 2D image.

The photographer I photographed is truly a photographer. Go check out his portfolio: www.pultsiphoto.com and Instagram account.

Comparison photo of the same place. Color film would have been nice.

Double exposure and long exposure. I think I still need lots and lots of practice with shooting film and 12 ISO that is quite hard to photograph with.

A tram! My favourite subject. Almost the cover photo.

Yet another tram and my favourite waffle place.

This one I think I like. An almost cover image also. Just like the last photo below on the right. The three to fourish legged tripod person photo could have been the cover image of the post.

What did all this cost me?
Camera: 30€
CineStill 50D: 13,99€
Washi A12: 7,90€
Film developing: 12,90€ + 17,90€
Film scanning to TIFF: 20€ + 20€

That's it this time! Let's hope that something drives me to write more about my photography studies some day. Perhaps a whole post dedicated to that topic is an impossible task for me so I think you just have to settle for bits and pieces here and there.

I do say this though. My photography studies include an exhibition in 2025 and I have no idea what my topic could be. Exhibition gallery applications and reservations have to be made early, sometimes one year before, depending on the place, and they need to see what I want to hang on their walls.

So what should I try to photograph? Any ideas?

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_{Film cameras
Baby Brownie 1
Balda-Bünde Baldixette 1
Bilora Bella 66 1
Bilora Bella 66 Standard 1
Certo-Phot 1
Closter C63 1
Coronet D-20 1, 2, 3, 4
Cosina Flash 35E 1, 2, 3, 4
Dacora Daci 1
Fed 3 1
Felica 1, 2, 3, 4
Halina Paulette EE II 1
Kodak Box 620 1, 2
Kodak Brownie Six-20 Model C 1
Lubitel 2 1
Voigtländer Bessa 66 1
Yashica 44 LM 1
ZIAG Colora F 1, 2}

_{Films (b&w)
Adox CMS 20 II Pro 1, Adox HR-50 1, Adox CHS 100 II 1, Fomapan 100 1, Fomapan 200 1, Fomapan 400 1, 2, Gevaert Gevapan 1, 2, 3, 4, Ilford PanF Plus 50 1, Ilford Delta 100 1, Ilford Delta 400 1, Ilford XP2 Super 400 1, Ilford Delta 3200 1, Lomography Fantôme 8 1, Rera Pan 400 1, Retropan soft 320 1, Rollei Retro 400S 1, Rollei RPX 400 1, Washi Z 400 1}

_{Films (color)
Fujifilm 200 1, Kodak Gold 200 color 1, 2, 3}

_{Digital cameras
Sony A6400, 16-50mm 1
Sony A6400, Laowa 25mm f2.8 1
Comparison: Sony A6400, Canon EOS 550D, Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7, Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P32, Canon PowerShot A550 1, 2}